[ Break it gently. Come on, you say that like your roommates wouldn't be happy for you, being reunited with a buddy from home. ]
[ A very, very big friend. And while Sigma isn't entirely unaccustomed to the concept of larger pets (Piper, Courser, sane people with horses, et al.) it does, admittedly, catch him by surprise after he glances up from his spot on his bunk and properly realizes what's trying to burrow in underneath her arm. Especially when the largest non-human he's had the pleasure of rooming with hadn't been much bigger than an oversized lemur. ]
[ Not a bahari muzzle, but a big, wet, far more familiar-looking dog's nose. Except that the snout is about twice as big and attached to a creature most definitely hunching down to press up against Korra's side. ]
Hey—ello—!
[ He's not pulling his knees up a bit like a 50s housewife post-rat sighting or anything, what are you talking about. It was just a surprised twitch. ]
[roommates be damned, Korra can't help the smile the tugs at the edge of her mouth as Naga noses under her arm, and Sigma's eyes go wide. It's been rough, since the end of Macha, and Korra's sure she'll have second thoughts about having Naga under the CDC's control later, but for now, she's just incredibly relieved to have a familiar face back with her. And it helps that Sigma's not immediately calling for a polar-bear-skin rug as soon as he sees it.]
This? Is my best friend, Naga.
[What, haven't you ever seen a Polar Bear Dog before? Korra lifts an arm, allowing it to rest on top of Naga's head as she sniffs the air in the room.]
Say hello Naga.
[The polar bear dog lets out a snort, fixing Sigma with a bored expression. Anyone walking by in the hall would be likely to get whipped in the face by her wagging tail.]
[ Come on, once the shock value wears off, he's down with animals of all shapes and sizes so long as they aren't about to tear his face off! (And probably even if they are if they're feline.) If it's a friend of Korra's, it's a friend of Sigma's. Once it proves to meet that face-tearing conditional, that is, but with the way the girl is draping over its massive head, that probably won't take too long. ]
[ That being said, he still can't quite gauge whether the stare is one of indifference or a bored half-interest in food, so the grin that follows is a little nervous. Was that an order to the dog or to him? ]
Hello, Naga.
[ Gathering up his dignity, Sigma sits up a little straighter before leaning over to make a show of peering beneath the bunks. ]
[And Naga begins shouldering forward into the room, gently, but as much as the rooms have been made with aliens of different sizes in mind, there's no way the two of them can fit in the doorway, so forward Korra goes. With a laugh Korra turns around, taking a few steps back.]
Hang on there, Girl. [Looking over her shoulder.] She didn't want to be left alone on the ship.
[Korra can understand. Being stuck in a metal box always made her a little ill at ease. With a little more doing, Naga gets inside, giving Sigma his first good look at her. She's big, her back rising up above Korra's height, though her head lopes down lower, and she's muscularly built. Sticking her big muzzle in Sigma's face, she takes a few good whiffs of him.]
Sorry. She's just getting to know you. She's not dangerous, I promise.
[ Ah right, she, whoops. By "she just got here", he can only imagine she'd been waiting on the ship for Korra, considering they hadn't heard tell of any enormous puppies on the shuttles up. Once the polar bear dog wiggles her way through the door and takes up space in all her glory, Sigma lets out a low, breathless sort of whistle, almost as if her sheer mass had displaced the air out of the room. ]
[ That's a big dog... ]
[ One that's wasting no time in shoving her big wet nose in his face and snuffling. When presented with the head of a wild animal that could give your entire torso a run for its money, it's only natural to recoil a little, but she really is just a giant dog... Maybe can I pet her? would have been a prudent question to ask, but hey, if she's not dangerous. ]
Hey there... [ Sigma lifts a hand to scritch Naga on the top of the head before moving behind an ear. If she doesn't protest, he'll add another hand to the endeavor before glancing up at Korra, ] Are all the animals where you come from this big?
[The scritching seems to do the trick and Naga opens her mouth, her tongue lulling out happily, her eyes shutting when he adds a second hand to the equation.]
Not all of them. Our animals are just like any other planet's.
[Korra's best friend just happens to be of the larger persuasion. After a moment of blissful scratching behind the ears, Naga happily returns the favor by licking Sigma's cheek, all the way up to his hair, making it stick up with dog slobber.]
[ Whether they're knee height or the size of a small car, at least dogs seem to have a universal love ear scratches. When Naga shuts her eyes, Sigma grins ever more, throwing in a bit of barely coherent dog-speak under his breath (who's a good girl, you're not scary at all are you, you're just a great big puppy, et al.) as Korra explains. ]
[ He's probably about to ask her if she has elephants the size of cats too when he's suddenly reminded that big dogs have bigger tongues. By way of a single lick covering half the side of his face, slicking up his hair like an overzealous fauxhawk and probably taking the eyepatch with it. ]
Oh god— [ Screwing his eye shut, Sigma leans back, doing his best to wipe the dog drool away with the back of his hand, but gross as it might be he's still able to chuckle. Running his fingers through his crazy bangs, ] How early is she usually up? Can I get her to do my hair in the morning?
[ Good will aside, he's gonna put a hand on Naga's nose if she tries it again, sorry dear. Taking a second to wrangle his hair, he eventually asks, ] How'd you get a hold of her, anyway?
[ He'd been so single-minded when he'd asked his favor that it hadn't even occurred to him one could request people or animals... Or anything else, really. ]
[Korra snickers. At least Sigma is a good sport about all of the dog slobber. Satisfied with slobbering all over Korra's roommate, Naga backs off a little making a tight circle of the room before laying down on the floor, her head still near Sigma's bunk, in case he wants to keep up with the ear scratching.]
Do you mean the first time, or just now?
[Polar Bear Dogs weren't super common pets back home either.]
When she was just a puppy, I found her lost in the middle of the tundra. We grew up together.
[ She's just being friendly in the best way a dog knows how! No use pitching a fit over it... Although he does forgo putting the spitty eyepatch back on, instead electing to continue his scratching of Naga's conveniently close neck and ears. It's hard to stop petting things when they're just... there for the petting. ]
Both, I guess.
[ He'll take that for a start; curiosity knows no bounds. ]
—In the tundra? [ His eyebrows jump up a notch. ] Never would've pegged you as a cold person.
[ Partially because they'd met on a hot sort of planet, mostly because as a creature of the desert, any place that saw snowfall for more than a month out of the year deemed itself fictional and often times unconstitutional in his mind. (It's probably for the best he hadn't ended up on Ajna.) ]
[ By not being human, that's how!! Not that that sentiment works sensitively in an intergalactic setting. ]
Dude— [ Short, but honestly awed. Maybe she's from a warmer planet, but the similar terms put a hell of an image in his head. ] Nothing can even live on our South Pole... Nothing but a handful of crazy people, anyway.
[ He can't claim to know much of anything about it, but he knows it isn't a white-picket fence kind of place to grow up. But more importantly, wait, he has to pause and take a moment to wrap his head around the most obvious and logical origin story from the perspective of one only familiar with the parts of the whole. ]
From... when a polar bear and a dog love each other very much?
[Korra makes a face at Sigma, like one might make at an unbearable pun but she decides to forego the explanation of where Polar Bear Dogs come from.]
The waterbending tribes have been living on the south and north poles for a long time now. It's handy, when you can just built everything out of snow and ice.
[It's pretty extreme, especially compared to the other parts of the world, but other than the Earth Kingdom, no other nation is as surrounded by their element as the Water Tribes.]
[ Well, the only other answer he's got is the North Pole, but it's not the worst thing in the world to be misinformed about. ]
[ And extreme it might be, but logical. Probably a good idea to stick to what you know, and where the water stays solid. Plenty of both at the freezing ends of the earth. ]
Remodeling must be a breeze, huh?
[ He lets out an impressed noise, taking a minute to try and visualize such a concept. It probably comes out like a crystalline Cinderella Castle in his head; ice palaces are serious artsy novelties as far as he knows them, not permanent structures. ]
Wait, you keep talking about waterbending tribes, but you've got more than that up your soggy sleeves, I've seen it. Is it just your hometown specialty? Or...
[Your idioms are weird, Sigma. But Korra's happy to talk about her world. Having Naga there reminds her of just how much she misses it, but she has a pride in the world she comes from. Being abducted by the CDC helped her realize what a special place it is.]
Well, there's the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom— I'm sure you can figure out what benders come from those countries— and there's the United Republic, which is a big mix of everyone.
[And here her voice gets a little dreamy, reminiscing,]
You should see Republic City. The buildings are taller than any of the ones in the Water Tribe. And there's so many Satomobiles! And electricity!
[Ah... she stops, realizing she must sound like a country girl. She totally is, by her world's standards, so how behind-the-times must she be for anyone used to the sort of technology that the CDC has.]
[ Yeah, they are pretty weird. Even by his world's standards. ] I guess you don't wear sleeves very often, do you? [ Because that's why it was weird, right. ]
[ Her answer doesn't really satisfy his question, but she's suddenly too enthusiastic to think about trying to tether her. From the context, he can at least guess that being multitalented might not be a common thing. The homesick look in her eye as she rambles wistfully on about—what turn into Model Ts in his mind's eye once she starts gushing about the mere concept of electricity—gets a little snort and a grin. ]
[ Sure, she'd mentioned tribes and kingdoms, but now it's really settling in, just how much of a bumpkin this girl is. ]
[ Which only prompts a bigger grin, sorry Korra. Suuure you aren't. Leaning back, Sigma shrugs, making a show of his nonchalance (as if Macha hadn't thrown him for a complete and utter loop). ]
Donno what you're talking about. I had space ships back home.
[ Nothing this grandiose, and certainly nothing he's knowingly been on, but at least he's got a frame of reference, bumpkin! ]
But hey, I've never met anyone that can bend stuff like that. Just a lot of people who wish they could... You win some, you lose some.
I'd take bending the elements over space ships any day.
[No... offense to worlds with space ships. Naga, in the meantime, picks her head up off of the floor, nosing into Korra's hand, either for comfort for Korra's perceived awkwardness, or just desiring to be pet for itself.]
I feel like a sardine in here. What I wouldn't give to be able to metal bend.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ A very, very big friend. And while Sigma isn't entirely unaccustomed to the concept of larger pets (Piper, Courser, sane people with horses, et al.) it does, admittedly, catch him by surprise after he glances up from his spot on his bunk and properly realizes what's trying to burrow in underneath her arm. Especially when the largest non-human he's had the pleasure of rooming with hadn't been much bigger than an oversized lemur. ]
[ Not a bahari muzzle, but a big, wet, far more familiar-looking dog's nose. Except that the snout is about twice as big and attached to a creature most definitely hunching down to press up against Korra's side. ]
Hey—ello—!
[ He's not pulling his knees up a bit like a 50s housewife post-rat sighting or anything, what are you talking about. It was just a surprised twitch. ]
Uh. Who's your friend..?
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This? Is my best friend, Naga.
[What, haven't you ever seen a Polar Bear Dog before? Korra lifts an arm, allowing it to rest on top of Naga's head as she sniffs the air in the room.]
Say hello Naga.
[The polar bear dog lets out a snort, fixing Sigma with a bored expression. Anyone walking by in the hall would be likely to get whipped in the face by her wagging tail.]
no subject
[ That being said, he still can't quite gauge whether the stare is one of indifference or a bored half-interest in food, so the grin that follows is a little nervous. Was that an order to the dog or to him? ]
Hello, Naga.
[ Gathering up his dignity, Sigma sits up a little straighter before leaning over to make a show of peering beneath the bunks. ]
Damn, where were you keeping him all this time?
no subject
[And Naga begins shouldering forward into the room, gently, but as much as the rooms have been made with aliens of different sizes in mind, there's no way the two of them can fit in the doorway, so forward Korra goes. With a laugh Korra turns around, taking a few steps back.]
Hang on there, Girl. [Looking over her shoulder.] She didn't want to be left alone on the ship.
[Korra can understand. Being stuck in a metal box always made her a little ill at ease. With a little more doing, Naga gets inside, giving Sigma his first good look at her. She's big, her back rising up above Korra's height, though her head lopes down lower, and she's muscularly built. Sticking her big muzzle in Sigma's face, she takes a few good whiffs of him.]
Sorry. She's just getting to know you. She's not dangerous, I promise.
no subject
[ That's a big dog... ]
[ One that's wasting no time in shoving her big wet nose in his face and snuffling. When presented with the head of a wild animal that could give your entire torso a run for its money, it's only natural to recoil a little, but she really is just a giant dog... Maybe can I pet her? would have been a prudent question to ask, but hey, if she's not dangerous. ]
Hey there... [ Sigma lifts a hand to scritch Naga on the top of the head before moving behind an ear. If she doesn't protest, he'll add another hand to the endeavor before glancing up at Korra, ] Are all the animals where you come from this big?
no subject
Not all of them. Our animals are just like any other planet's.
[Korra's best friend just happens to be of the larger persuasion. After a moment of blissful scratching behind the ears, Naga happily returns the favor by licking Sigma's cheek, all the way up to his hair, making it stick up with dog slobber.]
I think she likes you.
no subject
[ He's probably about to ask her if she has elephants the size of cats too when he's suddenly reminded that big dogs have bigger tongues. By way of a single lick covering half the side of his face, slicking up his hair like an overzealous fauxhawk and probably taking the eyepatch with it. ]
Oh god— [ Screwing his eye shut, Sigma leans back, doing his best to wipe the dog drool away with the back of his hand, but gross as it might be he's still able to chuckle. Running his fingers through his crazy bangs, ] How early is she usually up? Can I get her to do my hair in the morning?
[ Good will aside, he's gonna put a hand on Naga's nose if she tries it again, sorry dear. Taking a second to wrangle his hair, he eventually asks, ] How'd you get a hold of her, anyway?
[ He'd been so single-minded when he'd asked his favor that it hadn't even occurred to him one could request people or animals... Or anything else, really. ]
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Do you mean the first time, or just now?
[Polar Bear Dogs weren't super common pets back home either.]
When she was just a puppy, I found her lost in the middle of the tundra. We grew up together.
no subject
Both, I guess.
[ He'll take that for a start; curiosity knows no bounds. ]
—In the tundra? [ His eyebrows jump up a notch. ] Never would've pegged you as a cold person.
[ Partially because they'd met on a hot sort of planet, mostly because as a creature of the desert, any place that saw snowfall for more than a month out of the year deemed itself fictional and often times unconstitutional in his mind. (It's probably for the best he hadn't ended up on Ajna.) ]
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Well, you'd be wrong. I spent seventeen years of my life on the South Pole. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe.
[And she says it with no lack of pride, tipping her chin up. Back then, she was so eager to leave the South Pole, but it will always be home for her.]
Where else do you think a Polar Bear Dog comes from?
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Dude— [ Short, but honestly awed. Maybe she's from a warmer planet, but the similar terms put a hell of an image in his head. ] Nothing can even live on our South Pole... Nothing but a handful of crazy people, anyway.
[ He can't claim to know much of anything about it, but he knows it isn't a white-picket fence kind of place to grow up. But more importantly, wait, he has to pause and take a moment to wrap his head around the most obvious and logical origin story from the perspective of one only familiar with the parts of the whole. ]
From... when a polar bear and a dog love each other very much?
no subject
The waterbending tribes have been living on the south and north poles for a long time now. It's handy, when you can just built everything out of snow and ice.
[It's pretty extreme, especially compared to the other parts of the world, but other than the Earth Kingdom, no other nation is as surrounded by their element as the Water Tribes.]
We even have a huge palace, made of ice.
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[ And extreme it might be, but logical. Probably a good idea to stick to what you know, and where the water stays solid. Plenty of both at the freezing ends of the earth. ]
Remodeling must be a breeze, huh?
[ He lets out an impressed noise, taking a minute to try and visualize such a concept. It probably comes out like a crystalline Cinderella Castle in his head; ice palaces are serious artsy novelties as far as he knows them, not permanent structures. ]
Wait, you keep talking about waterbending tribes, but you've got more than that up your soggy sleeves, I've seen it. Is it just your hometown specialty? Or...
no subject
[Your idioms are weird, Sigma. But Korra's happy to talk about her world. Having Naga there reminds her of just how much she misses it, but she has a pride in the world she comes from. Being abducted by the CDC helped her realize what a special place it is.]
Well, there's the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom— I'm sure you can figure out what benders come from those countries— and there's the United Republic, which is a big mix of everyone.
[And here her voice gets a little dreamy, reminiscing,]
You should see Republic City. The buildings are taller than any of the ones in the Water Tribe. And there's so many Satomobiles! And electricity!
[Ah... she stops, realizing she must sound like a country girl. She totally is, by her world's standards, so how behind-the-times must she be for anyone used to the sort of technology that the CDC has.]
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[ Her answer doesn't really satisfy his question, but she's suddenly too enthusiastic to think about trying to tether her. From the context, he can at least guess that being multitalented might not be a common thing. The homesick look in her eye as she rambles wistfully on about—what turn into Model Ts in his mind's eye once she starts gushing about the mere concept of electricity—gets a little snort and a grin. ]
[ Sure, she'd mentioned tribes and kingdoms, but now it's really settling in, just how much of a bumpkin this girl is. ]
Sounds like the CDC was a hell of a leap for you.
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I'm not some country bumpkin.
[Except she totally is.]
Space ships and... [She waves her hand, indicating everything,] all of this is weird for anyone!
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Donno what you're talking about. I had space ships back home.
[ Nothing this grandiose, and certainly nothing he's knowingly been on, but at least he's got a frame of reference, bumpkin! ]
But hey, I've never met anyone that can bend stuff like that. Just a lot of people who wish they could... You win some, you lose some.
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I'd take bending the elements over space ships any day.
[No... offense to worlds with space ships. Naga, in the meantime, picks her head up off of the floor, nosing into Korra's hand, either for comfort for Korra's perceived awkwardness, or just desiring to be pet for itself.]
I feel like a sardine in here. What I wouldn't give to be able to metal bend.